Smoked Lake Trout Recipes

I’m looking for some smoked Lake Trout Recipes. I think I remember someone posting a recipe on here but I must of had one to many millers last night and can’t find it haha. I’ve never smoked fish so and tips will be appreciated.

I do a simple rub using equal parts of Morton’s Tenderqwik and brown sugar. The Morton’s stuff can be found in the grocery store where table salt is located.

I just rub a wad of this into the skin side and on the flesh side of each fillet and lay the fillets flat in a Tupperware cake dish, skin side down, and set them in the fridge for 24 hours. When the smoker is getting set up wash the fillets to get the extra juice off them and pat them dry with a paper towel, then smoke as per usual.

When my smoker is shut down I leave the fish or whatever inside the smoker until it is completely cold. This helps to prevent any mushiness to the meat. I vacuum seal the pieces for the freezer and keep the package of meat sealed while it thaws in the fridge too.

Dry fish brine

2 lbs brown sugar
1 Cup rock salt(ice cream salt)
¼ cup table salt
¼ cup tender quick (cure

This works best with fillets of the fish and cut into 3-4” slabs.
Rinse and dry fillets, put a coating of cure in bottom of non-reactive pan
Add one layer of fish skin side down, cover well with cure, repeat till pan is full.
Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. Rinse well and let dry for one hour.
Place on smoker racks sprinkle with brown sugar.
Smoke for 4-5 hours with Alder or Apple wood. Place in paper bags after they cool and refrigerate overnight.

I’ve tried a simple rub of: 1 part kosher (or canning) salt to 1/2 part brown sugar, 1/2 part white sugar and some black pepper. After that same procedure as Tom. What I have heard is to not use table salt.

Table salt can have iodine in it and will turn the fish ugly colors if used. The Tenderqwik offers enough salt and also offers cure to help preserve the fish a little longer.

I got this recipe off a smoke site and it is great!! I used skinned salmon fillets because I don’t care for the greasy area close to the skin.

Put 1/2 quart apple juice in a pot on the stove, bringing to a low boil and then down to a simmer
Add this:
6 ounces of soy sauce
1/2 cup of canning salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dried bay leaf flakes(or 3 whole bay leaves)

Stir until salt dissolves. Add 1 1/2 quarts water and ice to cool quickly

Leave pieces submerged in brine for 4 hours in fridge.
Brine larger pieces up to 6 hours. DO NOT BRINE LONGER THAN 6 HOURS OR THEY TURN TO RUBBER!

Remove from brine and rinse each piece well, pat dry and lay on paper towels.

Put fillets on smoking racks and put in fridge overnight to form pellicle(noticeable sticky glaze that forms)

Start smoking at 120 degrees without smoke. This allows the pellicle to form completely. Add smoke after an hour. The amount of smoke depends on the personal taste.

After an hour of smoke, bump the temp up to 150 degrees for an hour.

Bump temp up to 170 degrees until fish flakes easily. This takes some close attention so you don’t dry them out too much

Here’s my standard salmon/trout brine. I dont get enough opportunities to try anything different and I know this one works.

1 GAL Water
1/2 Cup pickling salt
1 Cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1 Cup terriyaki sauce (any brand, I use kikkoman)
1 Cup brown sugar
mix above, marinade salmon strips/chunks (not too thick!) for longer than
usual (up to 2/3 days), rinse w/water, pat dry… let stand to air dry for
an hour, then smoke as desired.

Oops, yes it should be non iodized salt in the dry brine I posted

“Smoke for 4-5 hours with Alder or Apple wood”….jetro

My last batch was done using pear wood and that’s what I am doing the next batch with. Its a real nice smoke and not the least bit bitter.

There are some great sounding brines posted already. Here is what I use for lake trout, salmon, rainbow, and here is a picture of brown trout I smoked recently. You can see this and and more on my site http://www.sausageheavenoutdoors.com .

One gallon water
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup pickling salt
1/8th cup black pepper
2 T diced garlic
7 bay leaves
2 T onion powder
1 tsp cure #1

Mix everything up well and leave the fish in the brine for up to 24 hours depending how thick the fillets are or if you are using whole fish. By whole fish I’m talking about 14 to 16 inch browns like I’m using here in this pictures. Or thick salmon steaks. Like others, after the brine, rinse the fillets or fish and let dry in order to form a pellicle. Then put in the smoker. Reinhard

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